Goin' Solar
Solar Energy finally makes sense.
I'm not going solar to "be green" and I'm certainly not going to do it if it costs more than other means, but I finally ran across a solar energy plan that made sense, so I took the leap and signed the contract a couple days ago.
By March 2010, my house should be solar powered.
So... what was the deciding factor to go Solar? Cost.
How did it finally make sense? Lease.
That's right... A Lease. Instead of purchasing a solar panel system, I'm going to lease it from the installer. The cost of the lease is fixed with a 3% increase annually, no money down, and all installation and maintenance is the responsibility of the company who is installing it. The price of the lease is estimated to be about 10% less than the cost of the energy I was formerly buying from SDG&E, giving me a net lower monthly energy bill FROM DAY 1!
The lease term is 15 years, with options to renew/upgrade the system at that time. The system remains the property of the installer, so they get to take all the Carbon offset and tax credits... but who cares! I don't have *any* out of pocket expenses, and my monthly bill will be lower.
If anyone is interested in the details, let me know privately. I do get a referral perk if anyone else wants to sign up (this company services CA, AZ, and OR only), but I don't this to sound like an ad. This is just an announcement of what's going on at my house.
I'm not going solar to "be green" and I'm certainly not going to do it if it costs more than other means, but I finally ran across a solar energy plan that made sense, so I took the leap and signed the contract a couple days ago.
By March 2010, my house should be solar powered.
So... what was the deciding factor to go Solar? Cost.
How did it finally make sense? Lease.
That's right... A Lease. Instead of purchasing a solar panel system, I'm going to lease it from the installer. The cost of the lease is fixed with a 3% increase annually, no money down, and all installation and maintenance is the responsibility of the company who is installing it. The price of the lease is estimated to be about 10% less than the cost of the energy I was formerly buying from SDG&E, giving me a net lower monthly energy bill FROM DAY 1!
The lease term is 15 years, with options to renew/upgrade the system at that time. The system remains the property of the installer, so they get to take all the Carbon offset and tax credits... but who cares! I don't have *any* out of pocket expenses, and my monthly bill will be lower.
If anyone is interested in the details, let me know privately. I do get a referral perk if anyone else wants to sign up (this company services CA, AZ, and OR only), but I don't this to sound like an ad. This is just an announcement of what's going on at my house.